Stephen Desberg

(b. 10 September 1954, Belgium)

artwork by Stéphane Colman

Stephen Desberg is a successful comics writer in both the humorous and the realistic genre. He creates fantastic atmospheres, and he often criticized subjects like fascism and racism. After some scriptwork for Tintin, Desberg assisted Maurice Tillieux on the scriptwriting for 'Tif et Tondu' by Will in Spirou. After Tillieux's death, Desberg continued the scenario work for this series on his own. Soon he expanded his activities for the Spirou magazine and created series with Benn ('Mick Mac Adam'), Stéphane Colman ('Billy the Cat'), Eric Maltaite ('421'), Marc Hardy ('Arkel') and Daniel Desorgher ('Jimmy Tousseul').

In 1987 he wrote 'Gaspard de la Nuit' for Johan de Moor at Casterman, followed by 'La Vache' in 1992. The latter was continued under the title 'Lait Entier' at Lombard in 2001. In the 1990s Desberg took on some more "grown-up" comics with Will ('La Vignt-Septième Lettre', 'L'Appel de l'Enfer'), published in the Aire Libre collection of Dupuis and by P&T Productions. After '421', Desberg and Maltaite continued their cooperation with 'Carmen Lamour' at P&T Productions. With Bernard Vrancken, Desberg produced several short stories for À Suivre as well as the series 'Le Sang Noir' and 'I.R.$'. Desberg also began collaborations with Dany ('Equator' at Lombard), Enrico Marini ('L'Étoile du Desert' at Dargaud Suisse), Philippe Wurm ('Le Cercle des Sentinelles' at Casterman) and Henri J. Reculé ('Le Crépuscule des Anges' at Casterman).

In October 2000 Desberg started 'Le Scorpion' with Enrico Marini. At the publishing house Glénat, he began series like 'Les Immortels' (with Reculé) and 'Tosca' (with Francis Vallès), both in 2001. In 2003, came the SF comic 'Mayam' with Daniel Koller at Dargaud, and in 2005 followed 'Rafales' with Vallès at Lombard.